1 nabbed after Gold Coast bank robbery

Three Chicago police officers apprehended a bank robber this afternoon on the Near North Side with the help of a couple of alert passersby.

Authorities believe the robber might be connected to at least one similar heist. He is in federal custody awaiting charges related to this afternoon's holdup.

From left, Chicago Police Officers Joe Incaprera, Daniel Brown and Dennis Morgan talk about the arrest of a bank robbery suspect with the help of two passersby. (Tribune / Terrence Antonio James)

The robber was seen fleeing the North Community Bank at Chicago Avenue and State Street by two civilians standing down the street from the bank, police said.

The robber, who was apparently unarmed, entered the North Community Bank, 800 N. State St., shortly before 3 p.m. He handed a teller a note demanding money and fled with an unspecified amount of cash. No one was hurt.

Near North District Officers Dennis Morgan, Daniel Brown and Joe Incaprera were on patrol in their squad car assigned to working robbery missions when they responded to the call of the robbery, with their siren blaring and emergency lights flashing.

"We were just a couple blocks north of [the bank] as we heard the call come out. We immediately responded, [driving] south on State. Then we turned westbound on Chicago," Morgan said.

Meanwhile, two passersby, Joseph Douglas Morrow and Curtis Woods, were talking on the corner of Dearborn Street and Chicago Avenue when they saw the suspect running from the bank.

Morrow said the two saw the robber wearing what he described as a blue jean jacket and a skull cap and carrying a brown envelope, with "red smoke" leaking from it.

The officers later determined the red substance was from a hidden dye pack with the stolen cash inside the envelope. Dye packs are generally equipped with a bank's money, acting as a security mechanism that is designed to explode on money stolen during a robbery.

"He (Woods) brought to my attention that there was a lot of red smoke, and he's like 'What's all that red smoke?'" Morrow said. "And he's (the suspect is) running toward me, and I'm seeing smoke coming up from under his arm."

"I see the smoke coming up from under his arm, so I said now, 'He robbed a bank,'" Morrow said.

Morrow said the robber was running close enough to him to overhear Morrow say that.

The robber then told him, according to Morrow, "Oh you see it (the red dye)?"

Then Morrow replied, "Yeah. It's all over you and all over your coat."